BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 29, 2022)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Actions taken by the Austin City Council (Thursday, March 24, 2022)
AGENDA - Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council (Thursday, April 7, 2022)
OF NOTE
Sponsors: Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter, Mayor Steve Adler, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, Council Member Paige Ellis.
[BG Podcast]
Episode 152: Discussing Municipal Crypto and Blockchain Policy
Today’s episode (152) features Elijah John Bowdre, Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Cryptocurrency Task Force.
Created in May 2021 (led by the efforts of Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins), Task Force is comprised of eight industry-expert appointees who shall work to study the possibility of incorporating cryptocurrency as a form of payment for County taxes, fees, and services and other recommendations that may be beneficial to Miami-Dade County.
Up tomorrow: Episode 153 featuring a discussion Austin Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, sponsor of Austin’s recently passed cryptocurrency study resolution.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Abandoned rental cars and TSA lines out the door. What's going on at Austin's airport? (KUT)
When Carmen Ortiz arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) this morning two hours before departure as recommended, the line to get through security stretched down the Barbara Jordan terminal, outside the building and back down the entire length of the terminal.
"I've never had to wait in a security line outside the airport," Ortiz said. "Everyone was showing up at the airport shocked."
Before the sun had even risen, the wait for TSA screening had stretched to more than 90 minutes, over three times what the Transportation Security Administration considers "normal."
Even though the TSA says all its screening lanes were open, including three new lanes added late last year, screeners got slammed with more than 8,252 passengers before 8 a.m., about 1,600 more than normal.
The TSA says it recently brought in extra staff from other airports to help at ABIA, but the agency is still struggling to hire enough employees in Austin, even with hiring bonuses of up to $2,000… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council halts move of downtown court, seeking study of future needs (Austin Monitor)
City Council has changed course on its plans to relocate the Downtown Austin Community Court to a historic municipal building on West Eighth Street, directing city staff to conduct an analysis of the court’s future needs with the possibility of keeping its existing space in One Texas Center.
At last week’s meeting, three items on the agenda would have allocated the $27 million renovation budget for the West Eighth location and set the framework to open bids for design and construction projects. Those items were withdrawn via motions from Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Kathie Tovo, who directed the court, related homeless services partners and the city’s Innovation Office to contribute to the study with that work completed by the end of June.
The court lost its longtime leased space on East Sixth Street due to redevelopment plans by the property owner, forcing the move to One Texas Center, which was intended to be a temporary home.
The plan to move to the former City Hall building on West Eighth drew loud criticism from the Downtown Austin Alliance and nearby residents who worried that the court’s focus on case management services for the homeless would clash with the area’s upscale, historic atmosphere. Some of those against the move also questioned whether the city should spend $27 million to renovate the municipal building, and argued that the Waller Creek Center facility on East 10th Street could provide a suitable home for the court… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Convenience market and cafe coming to Austin Java's former home at City Hall storefront (Community Impact)
A new convenience market is coming to the City Hall storefront vacated by Austin Java in 2020.
After its lease agreement was approved by City Council March 24, Foxtrot Retail Texas Inc. will move into the 2,658-square-foot retail space at 301 W. Second St., Ste. 100, on the corner of Lavaca Street. Foxtrot plans to open an "upscale convenience market" with grocery and cafe offerings, according to the city… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin moves up a spot to No. 2 on prestigious best performing cities list (Austin Business Journal)
Austin again was ranked high on a prestigious list, coming in second on the Milken Institute's 2022 Best-Performing Cities list. The city moved up a spot in the large city rankings after finishing in the No. 3 spot each of the previous three years.
The index, which has published annually since 1999, ranks cities on a variety of metrics, including job creation, wage growth, and output growth. It's designed to help the public and private sectors evaluate and compare cities throughout the nation. It is particularly handy for Realtors, job recruiters and site selectors.
Provo-Orem, Utah, which has become a hub for technology startups, was ranked first among large cities for the second consecutive year due to its high levels of employment growth and wage growth over the last five years.
"With a relatively low cost of living, low tax rate, and local talent, the area has attracted tech giants including Oracle, Adobe, Vivint Smart Home, Qualtrics, and Amazon, among other West Coast investors," Milken noted in the report… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texans to vote on property tax cuts in May 7 elections (San Antonio Express-News)
Voters will head to the polls starting April 25 to decide whether to cut property taxes for homeowners by an average $176 a year and provide additional tax savings for elderly and disabled Texans. There are two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. Election Day is May 7. Proposition 1 would approve the tax cuts for elderly and disabled homeowners beginning in 2023, while a second measure seeks to raise the state’s homestead exemption from $25,000 to $40,000, lowering school property taxes.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who championed both amendments, has said the first proposal would offer relief for about 1.8 million seniors and 180,000 homeowners with disabilities, amounting to roughly $220 million in savings in 2024. The increased homestead exemption for schools, meanwhile, would save homeowners about $176 annually starting this year, he said. Actual savings would vary depending upon local tax rates. The propositions would “save money for all 5.67 million homesteads in the state of Texas,” Bettencourt said in a Monday news release. He added that the proposals would not cost school districts funding, as the state plans to replace the local revenues they lose. Both of the proposals had bipartisan support in last year’s special session marathon. Current law freezes school property taxes for most homeowners when they turn 65, and those with disabilities receive the same benefit when purchasing a new property. The proposed change would lower their bills. “Over-65 homeowners will see their freeze values actually decline, and lifetime savings from both bills in the many thousands,” Bettencourt said. The second proposal was a compromise after state lawmakers tossed earlier plans to use federal COVID-19 funds to offer a one-time check to Texans who claimed homestead exemptions on their property. Texas has one of the highest property tax rates nationwide — No. 45 out of 50 — according to the personal finance website WalletHub… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Urban farming in San Antonio can cost thousands of dollars to develop. Advocates are trying to change that. (San Antonio Express-News)
When Beth Keel, Cecile Parrish and other urban farmers were planning an urban farm on the East Side of San Antonio, they didn’t plan to encounter five pages of complex development codes and around $170,000 in permitting and platting costs. Just off Commerce Street, near Lincoln Park and the AT&T Center, the 4-acre spot contained housing over two decades ago and had been vacant for years. In an effort to promote green spaces, Keel, the sustainability manager for the San Antonio Housing Authority, decided to build an urban farm for the community with federal funding she received. The project seemed simple for Keel and Parrish, a San Antonio-based urban farmer. And it seemed exactly what the East Side needed — improved access to fresh food, green spaces and community sustainability.
Instead, they soon learned that building urban farms or gardens in San Antonio is a cost-prohibitive and complex process for most. Development codes, which are nonspecific and generally meant for housing or commercial development, can put prospective urban farmers through years of infrastructure hurdles and permitting costs before they can begin farming. For Keel and Parrish, who broke ground at the Garcia St. Urban Farm in 2019, the process consumed all the federal grant money, with most of it spent on infrastructure. Certain educational elements and amenities were cut, and the process took four years. Prompted by the experience, advocates, including Keel and Parrish, are working to change San Antonio’s Unified Development Code — a chapter in the municipal code that governs development in the city — to streamline urban gardening and farming. This fall, the City Council will vote on proposed amendments to the UDC, including seven related to urban farming that were proposed by the Food Policy Council of San Antonio… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Biden tries to retract his gift to Putin (The Hill)
President Biden may have handed Russian President Vladimir Putin a gift — and now he’s trying to take it back.
Biden appeared to play into Putin’s hands with his unscripted assertion during a big speech in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday that the Russian president “cannot remain in power.”
The words sounded to many people like a call for regime change in Moscow. And, as such, they dovetailed far too well with Putin’s frequent claims that he and his nation are the targets of Western plotting and aggression… (LINK TO FULL STORY)